2018 Bat Information

2018 BAT INFORMATION

For those who don't know, there is a new USA Baseball bat standard Little League is implementing for 2018. This standard only covers T-Ball bats and baseball bats. There are no changes to softball bats.

Since there is a lot of information floating around, I'll attempt to simplify things for everyone right here:

T-Ball bats (used in T-Ball division ONLY)Current/ old bats: Any T-Ball bat you currently have can be used in 2018. These older bats will be required to have a USA Baseball sticker on them, which the league will provide to everyone.

New bats: Any new T-Ball bat will already have the USA Baseball mark on them.

New bats: A NEW BAT WITH THE USA BASEBALL MARKING MUST BE USED IN 2018. Most of the new bats are big barrel bats (2 5/8" diameter), but there are a couple of new small barrel bats (2 1/4" diameter) out there.

One major, major thing to make note of:

DO NOT BUY A BAT LABELED USSSA. ANY NEW BAT MUST HAVE THE USA BASEBALL MARKING (seen here). It can be very confusing as both are youth big barrel bat types, but if you buy anything other than an USA Baseball bat (with the stamp on it), you will have wasted money on a bat you cannot use.

Seniors Baseball - BBCOR ONLY (no changes)This new standard is making the new metal bats act much more like a wood bat (i.e. the ball will come off the bat much slower now). Having said that, the performance difference between the crazy expensive bats and the cheaper bats will be much closer now. No need to spend a ton of money. PTE will try to provide each team with one of these new bats in their team bag next spring.